abbreviations clearly explained, and the place of publication of
each of the several periodicals referred to. For example: “Putnam,
7:1,” stands for Putnam’s Magazine, number 7, page 1; “Blackw.
80:616,” signifies Blackwood’s Magazine, number 80, page 616, and so
on. Every public library in the land—city, village, college, high
school, whatever its name—needs such a guide as this to periodical
literature, and it is easy to see that no private library of any
pretensions can do without it.
WHY 1900 WILL NOT BE A LEAP YEAR.
TIPTON, Iowa.
Will the year 1900 be a leap year? Robinson’s Arithmetic says that
1896 will be a leap year but 1900 will not be. If this is true,
please explain why.
STUDENT.
_Answer._—The old Roman year contained but 355 days, divided into
twelve lunar months, with an intercalary month thrown in at certain
intervals, as became necessary, to atone for the fact that it
requires more than twelve precise lunar months to make a year. This
arrangement led to great confusion, and Julius Cæsar, in the year
B. C. 46, remedied the trouble in large degree by the introduction
of what is known as the Julian calendar, which regarded the year as
composed of 365¼ days. This was a great improvement, but as a matter
of fact the natural year contains 11 minutes 10 seconds less than
365¼ days, which difference amounts in a hundred years to 18 hours 36
minutes 40 seconds, or a little more than three-fourths of a day. As
a consequence, between the year A. D. 325—when the Council of Nice
established the rule for the determination of Easter Sunday—and the
year 1582 there was found to be an accumulated error of ten days.
Whereas the sun had crossed the equator at the vernal equinox of A.
D. 325 on March 21, it crossed it in 1582, according to the Julian
calendar, on March 11. Pope Gregory XIII., resolved on ending the
confusion attendant upon this imperfection of the generally accepted
calendar, ordained that what according to this mode of reckoning
would have been Oct. 5, 1582, be reckoned as Oct. 15; and to prevent
a repetition of the error he further ordained that every hundredth
year should not be a leap year, excepting the year 2000 and every
four hundredth year thereafter. Manifestly the omission of an entire
day every four hundredth year would be too much by about one day,
since, as above shown, the error in the Julian mode of reckoning
amounts only to 18h. 36 min. 40 sec. in a hundred years, or about
three days in four hundred years. This correction the Gregorian
amendment effects by the rule above stated, which took the years
1700, 1800, and 1900 out of the list of leap years, and left the year
2,000 in that list. This leaves but the small difference of 36 min.
and 40 sec. in a hundred years between the civil and natural years:
which amounts to no more than twenty-two seconds a year, or about six
hours in 1,000 years. In England the change from the old style of
reckoning to this new style was not ordered until 1751, by which time
the error that was but ten days in Gregory’s time had grown to eleven
days. The order took effect in England and the Colonies as regarded
all official dates and reckoning, in September, 1752, when eleven
days were left out of the calendar by reckoning Sept. 3 as Sept. 14.
This explains apparent discrepancies between authors who wrote in
the latter half of the last and the early part of this century. For
example, some early biographies of Washington say that he was born
Feb. 11, others that he was born Feb. 11, O. S., or Feb. 22, N. S.
Some biographical sketches of John Adams, Washington’s successor,
declare that he was born Oct. 19, 1735, without indicating that this
was according to the old reckoning, while others state that he was
born Oct. 30.
LEGISLATION FOR THE PEOPLE.
DENVER, Col.
Enumerate the acts passed since the Republicans have been in power
which have served to benefit the people generally, and not some
corporation or monopoly only. An elderly Democrat declares that the
Republican party has never passed any such laws.
C. S. HOLLEY.
_Answer._—It is useless to waste words on men so ignorant or
politically mendacious as “elderly Democrat.” The following
memorandum is for the benefit of younger and fairer minded men.
First of all there is the series of acts ending in the preservation
of the Union and the emancipation of 4,000,000 men who were so far
from being “monopolists” or holders of corporation shares that they
were slaves; as they would be to-day had the Democrats remained in
power. It would take columns to enumerate the laws brought forward
by Republicans and enacted since they came into power which have
immensely benefited the people at large, and not “only monopolies,”
as you express it. Among these are the laws which have brought
cheap postage and rapid postal transportation; the homestead and
timber culture acts; the establishment of the only thoroughly secure
national paper currency and general banking system this country has
ever enjoyed; the resumption of specie payments in the face of
Democratic and Greenbacker opposition; the maintenance of the public
credit against rebellion in the South and the Democracy in the North,
re-enforced subsequently by the Greenback party, both clamoring for
total or partial repudiation; the abolition of all duties on tea
and coffee; the establishment of State schools of agriculture and
industrial science, endowed by government land grants; the promotion
of American inventions, manufactures, and mining, until it is
considered that this country leads the world in useful inventions,
and the capital invested in its factories is nearly three times as
great as it was in 1860, when the Republicans came into power—the
number of hands employed being 2,738,885, or more than double as
many; the amount paid in wages, more than two and a half times as
much; the value of farms, forest, mine and other materials consumed
(nearly all American) about three and a third times as much; and
the value of the product almost three times as great. As some of
the consequences of the above industrial legislation, the public
lands are passing into the hands of the people in homesteads and
timber culture claims alone at the rate of 8,000,000 acres a year;
and the twenty years from 1860 to 1880 added as many farms to the
cultivated domain of the country as all its previous history. Gold,
notwithstanding all the products of our fields and mines, not only
stopped flowing out of the country, as it had done during all our
former history, but began to pour in from other lands, millions on
millions. While throughout all the vast interior of the country,
notwithstanding the marvelous multiplication of farms, farm products
are higher than in 1860, and nearly all manufactured goods that enter
into general consumption are lower. In the same brief period the
assessed taxes on real estate and personal property have mounted from
$12,084,560,005 to $16,902,993,543.
EARTHQUAKES.
LAY, Col.
Please tell us the cause of earthquakes. Are they due to internal
convulsions of the earth or to atmospheric disturbances?
JACOB SLONEKER.
_Answer._—According to that eminent physicist, F. W. Rudler (see
his contribution to the Encyclopedia Britannica on “Earthquakes”),
“even at the present day, after all that has been written on the
subject, but little is known as to the origin of earthquakes.” The
general opinion of investigators is that these agitations proceed
from within outward, and are not of atmospheric or other external
origin. True, Professor Alexis Perry, of Dijon, France, thought he
had discovered relations between the ages of the moon and these
recurrences, which seemed to sustain the theory of Zantedeschi, that
the liquid nucleus of the earth responds to the moon’s attraction in
tides, somewhat as the ocean does: but the theory that the earth has
a liquid nucleus covered with only a thin, solid crust, is losing
adherents continually. The theory of vibration communicated by
meteoric impact has been advanced as accounting for some earthquakes.
Another theory is that earthquakes are caused in some instances
by steam from water rushing into the bowels of volcanoes, or from
explosions of pent-up gases, generated by chemical decomposition of
minerals. Others believe that many of these phenomena are due to
magnetic disturbances, following eruptions in the sun. The prevailing
opinion still is that whatever their origin, whether of one cause,
or various causes, the vibrations of every earthquake can be traced
to a focus within the earth, and that this lies directly beneath the
point of greatest disturbance on the earth’s surface. After the great
shock at Naples in 1857, Mr. Mallet, aided by the Royal Society,
by determining the wave paths of the shock at twenty-six different
stations, was able to locate the focal depth of the earthquake at
about five and a half miles; and Dr. Oldham, by observations on the
wave effects of the earthquake which occurred at Cachar, India, on
Jan. 10, 1869, found that the focus of disturbance must have been
about thirty miles below the surface. This is very near the maximum
depth at which any earthquake is likely to originate, if we accept
the reasoning of that most eminent of all investigators of this class
of phenomena, Mr. Mallet, of Dublin, Ireland. There are credible
records of between 6,000 and 7,000 earthquakes between 1606 B. C. and
1842 A. D. Professor Fuch’s more careful observations of recent years
show that there were probably many times that number of unrecorded
ones, since he registered ninety-seven during the year 1875 and 104
during 1876. In view of this fact this subject appears to be one of
the most interesting problems of nature and is attracting growing
attention, which, it is hoped, will presently lead to definite,
satisfactory conclusions.
SOUTHEASTERN DAKOTA.
PLANKINGTON, D. T.
Having seen questions in THE INTER OCEAN inquiring about Dakota,
and seeing no answers from this county, I concluded to write and
tell what I know of it. Aurora is the fourth county from the eastern
boundary and the third from the southern. It is considered by all
who have traveled over it as one of the finest in Southern Dakota.
The county is forty-eight miles long and twenty-four miles wide. In
the northwestern portion are situated the “Wessington Hills.” These
extend from northeast to southwest as far as the Missouri. Among them
are beautiful broad valleys and lakes of clear water. The climate
is all that can be desired. Last summer the days were warm and the
nights invariably cool, so that after a hard day’s work you could lie
down and rest sweetly. The past winter here, as in all other parts
of the Northern States, has been very cold and stormy. One month,
however, would take in all of the very cold weather. One foot would
cover all the snow that we have had this winter. The soil is a black
loam, varying in depth from one to six feet. The shallowest we have
found on our land is eighteen inches, and the deepest four feet. It
is very productive. Last year the crops yielded as follows: Corn
from 25 to 60 bushels per acre, wheat from 20 to 40 bushels, oats
from 50 to 80 bushels, barley from 30 to 60 bushels, rye from 40
to 60 bushels, flax from 7 to 22 bushels, buckwheat from 10 to 30
bushels, potatoes from 100 to 300 bushels, and all other vegetables
yielded enormously. The way this county is filling up is wonderful.
One year ago last fall there were only about 150 people in the
county, and to-day there are between 450 and 500, and scores more
coming on every train. If emigrants continue coming as they have done
for the last eighteen months, this county will soon be filled up.
Spring has already opened out with us, and farmers are putting in
their wheat and barley. Plankington, our county seat, which hardly
had a name eighteen months ago, is to-day a fine little village of
over 700 inhabitants. With early and deep planting this country will
grow almost anything.
THOMAS JACKA.
INCOME OF THE CZAR.
FORT WAYNE, Ind.
Will you inform us through Our Curiosity Shop from what source the
Emperor of Russia receives his income of $25,000 a day?
S. S. COLEMAN.
_Answer._—The annual income of the Czar of all the Russias probably
averages a great deal more than $25,000 a day. The crown domains
comprise more than a million square miles, covering an area exceeding
that of all our New England, Middle, and Southern States. These
include cultivated lands, pastures, and forests in different parts
of this vast empire, which embraces in its despotic arms more
than one-sixth the entire land surface of our globe. Besides the
revenue from the above estates, the Czar derives a large income
from gold, silver, copper, and other mines in Siberia. The actual
total of his immense revenue from all these sources is not stated
in the government budgets or finance accounts, the crown domains
being considered the private property of the imperial family. In a
British consular report of 1867 the total income of the imperial
family is estimated at £2,450,000 sterling, which is an average
of about $33,500 a day. The imperial contributions to charities,
schools, theaters, etc., are estimated by the same authority at about
£450,000, leaving a net sum of £2,000,000 a year to “keep the family.”
GETTYSBURG AND WATERLOO.
RED OAK, Iowa.
What was the most destructive battle of the late civil war; and how
did it compare with the battle of Waterloo as to numbers engaged
and loss of life?
INQUIRER.
_Answer._—The heaviest losses suffered by either side in any single
battle of the late war were at Gettysburg. The numbers engaged and
the losses are stated differently by different writers. Before
the Committee on the Conduct of the War, General Meade, the Union
commander, said: “Including all arms of the service, my strength
was a little under 100,000—about 95,000.” Understanding this to
include General French’s 7,000 men, who were by a blunder kept idle
at Frederick, and about 4,000 more of French’s force, who had been
detailed for special service—none of whom were brought into this
battle—it would appear that Meade’s force at Gettysburg was about
84,000 men of all arms. This corresponds very nearly with General
Humphrey’s statement that the Army of the Potomac in this action
comprised 70,000 infantry and 10,000 cavalry, with an artillery
force of 300 guns. Of the Confederate forces, General Humphrey says
that General Lee entered Pennsylvania with 85,000 infantry, 8,000
cavalry, and a due proportion of artillery. Greeley’s “American
Conflict” says: “Lee’s army, carefully counted by two Union men
independently, as it marched through Hagerstown, numbered 91,000
infantry, with 280 guns and 6,000 cavalry, while not less than 5,000
cavalry under Stuart advanced into Pennsylvania without passing
through Hagerstown.” The Union loss was 23,190, of whom 2,834 were
killed, 13,713 wounded, and 6,643 missing. The Confederate loss is
not officially stated. It is estimated by one writer (in the American
Cyclopedia) at 5,000 killed, 23,000 wounded, and 8,000 unwounded
prisoners—a total of 36,000, which is evidently an exaggeration.
Greeley’s “American Conflict” estimates Lee’s loss at 28,000, of whom
18,000 were killed and wounded, and 10,000 were unwounded prisoners;
while J. Watts de Peyster, in Johnson’s Cyclopedia, estimates Lee’s
loss at 31,600—18,000 killed and wounded, and 13,600 missing,
which includes the unwounded prisoners in our hands. In the battle
of Waterloo, the French army under Napoleon I. (according to P.
Nicholas, in Haydn’s Dictionary of Dates) numbered 71,947 men and 246
guns, and the allies 133,661 men of all arms and 260 guns—English,
under Wellington, 67,661; Prussians, 66,000 men. The loss of the
allies was 22,976: of whom 4,206 were killed, 14,539 wounded, and
4,231 missing. The French loss was 18,500 killed and wounded, and
7,800 prisoners, total 26,300; but other accounts, including some
French writers, make their loss about 30,000, the figures given in
most English and American cyclopedias.
FRAUDULENT HOMESTEAD AND TIMBER CLAIMS.
LACROSSE, Wis.
Is it not the intention of the pre-emption, homestead, and
timber-culture laws to encourage actual settlement and improvement
of the country, and are not these laws constantly used to encourage
fraudulent speculation, to the disadvantage of bona fide settlers?
CITIZEN.
_Answer._—Undoubtedly the laws mentioned were enacted for the benefit
of actual settlers, and not for the enrichment of speculators. The
following communication from Samuel Huckins, Esq., of Hartford, D.
T., just received, may be taken as an expose of the actual use made
of the laws in thousands of instances: “I have been a reader of your
worthy paper from the first year of its publication, and as I live
away out here in the far West I take a great interest in the doings
of Congress in regard to the public lands, of which THE INTER OCEAN
has so much to say. Now my theory and belief is, and always has been,
that the public lands should be given to those who will cultivate
and improve them—actual settlers who will make for themselves and
their descendants a home—and not throw this munificent gift of the
National domain into the hands of land-sharks and speculators.
Every person taking a claim, and those now holding claims under any
of the different acts of Congress, should occupy and cultivate such
lands according to the spirit and intent of the laws granting them
the same. I think Congress made a very grave error in giving persons
who had filed their entries of land under the homestead act the
privilege to pay $1.25 per acre for it instead of residing on the
land five years, thus giving those who never occupied the land, and
probably never will, a great advantage over the first settlers on
homestead land, who, in order to hold their claims, had to make the
required improvements and have an actual residence. I believe from
my personal knowledge that three-fourths of the land acquired under
the above act passed into the hands of capitalists and speculators.
The bogus homesteader would go to some money lender and get enough
money to prove up on his land—say $200 for 160 acres and $50 or $100
besides—giving a deed or mortgage on the same as security. In this
way the poor, honest home-seeker is cheated out of the land. There
are a great many claims out here, especially timber claims, held by
persons who have not fulfilled the requirements of the law, but as
the law is now administered they can hold them with impunity. A great
share of the land now covered by timber-culture claims on file is
in reality far more effectually covered with rank weeds than with
growing timber. Under the present system this law is of little value,
and keeps off the sincere home-seeker, who would improve the land
and help to build up schools and churches, and make for himself and
family a much needed home.”
ASSASSINATED ON GOOD FRIDAY.
CHICAGO, Ill.
Please decide whether President Lincoln was assassinated on Good
Friday, and settle a dispute.
CONTESTANT.
_Answer._—President Lincoln was assassinated on Friday, April 14,
1865, which was Good Friday.
THE DISCOVERY OF MEXICO.
CRAB ORCHARD, Ill.
Who discovered Mexico?
FELIX M. BURDETT.
_Answer._—The first knowledge of Mexico that reached the Spaniards
otherwise than by vague and uncertain stories of natives of the West
Indies came through two expeditions fitted out by Diego Velasquez,
who made the first European settlements in Cuba. The first of
these, under the command of Cordova, sailed from St. Jago de Cuba,
Feb. 8, 1517, and landed on the shores of Yucatan and Campeachy.
The second, commanded by Grijalvo, landed at various places on the
coast, but returned without penetrating into the interior or making
a settlement. It carried back such reports of the high civilization
and great wealth of Mexico, learned through the natives, as served
to intensify the determination of Velasquez to explore, and, if
possible, conquer the country. He fitted up a fleet of eleven small
vessels and placed them in command of Fernando Cortez, who set sail
from Cuba, Feb. 10, 1519; landed near the present city of Vera Cruz,
on March 4, and became the first actual explorer of the country, and
the founder of the Spanish dominion in Mexico.
TITLE OF PRINCE OF WALES.
HEBRON, Neb.
1. What is the origin of the title of the Prince of Wales? 2. Who
pays the cost of the dinners given at the White House, and what is
the annual expense on this account?
JAMES KNOX.
_Answer._—1. On the conquest of Wales by Henry III. of England, he
bestowed the principality of Wales and earldom of Chester on his son,
afterward Edward I., as an office of trust and government. In 1343
Edward III. invested his son Edward, the “Black Prince,” with the
principality, and from that time the eldest son of the reigning King
has borne the title of Prince of Wales. 2. The President pays the
expenses of entertainments given at the Executive Mansion out of his
annual allowances, and the amount so expended is a private matter.
J. C. CALHOUN—WHIG PARTY.
VOLGA CITY, Iowa.
1. Why did John C. Calhoun resign the office of Vice President? 2.
Who was his successor? 3. What caused the death of the Whig party?
H. C. DAVIS.
_Answer._—1. Calhoun aspired to the Presidency at the end of
President Jackson’s first term. This led to a personal alienation
and final violent rupture between the two. Calhoun was elected Vice
President along with Jackson in 1828, but he resigned the office in
1831 for the above reason, and in order to accept the United States
Senatorship vacated by Mr. Hayne when the latter was elected Governor
of South Carolina. 2. Martin Van Buren, of New York, succeeded Mr.
Calhoun. 3. The growth of the Free Soil and Abolition parties in the
North killed the old Whig party.
GREAT FIRES OF HISTORY.
FREDONIA, N. Y.
How did the loss of lives and property in the great fire in Chicago
compare with the losses in what are distinguished as the great
fires of London and Moscow? Give a list also of the other principal
fires recorded in history, and oblige
A CONSTANT READER.
_Answer._—The loss of life and property in the willful destruction by
fire and sword of the principal cities of ancient history—Nineveh,
Babylon, Persepolis, Carthage, Palmyra, and many others—is largely
a matter of conjecture. The following is a memorandum of the chief
conflagrations of the current era:
In 64, A. D., during the reign of Nero, a terrible fire raged in Rome
for eight days, destroying ten of the fourteen wards. The loss of
life and destruction of property is not known.
In 70, A. D., Jerusalem was taken by the Romans and a large part of
it given to the torch, entailing an enormous destruction of life and
property.
In 1106 Venice, then a city of immense opulence, was almost wholly
consumed by a fire, originating in accident or incendiarism.
In 1212 the greater part of London was burned.
In 1666 what is known as the Great Fire of London raged in the city
from Sept. 2 to 6, consuming 13,200 houses, with St. Paul’s Church,
86 parish churches, 6 chapels, the Guild Hall, the Royal Exchange,
the Custom House, 52 companies’ halls, many hospitals, libraries,
and other public edifices. The total destruction of property was
estimated at $53,652,500. Six lives were lost, and 436 acres burnt
over.
In 1679 a fire in Boston burned all the warehouses, eighty dwellings,
and vessels in the dock-yards; loss estimated at $1,000,000.
In 1700 a large part of Edinburgh was burned; loss unknown.
In 1728 Copenhagen was nearly destroyed; 1,650 houses burned.
In 1736 a fire in St. Petersburg burned 2,000 houses.
In 1729 a fire in Constantinople destroyed 12,000 houses, and 7,000
people perished. The same city suffered a conflagration in 1745,
lasting five days; and in 1750 a series of three appalling fires:
one in January, consuming 10,000 houses; another in April destroying
property to the value of $5,000,000, according to one historian, and
according to another, $15,000,000; and in the latter part of the
year another, sweeping fully 10,000 houses more out of existence. It
seemed as if Constantinople was doomed to utter annihilation.
In 1751 a fire in Stockholm destroyed 1,000 houses; and another fire
in the same city in 1759 burned 250 houses with a loss of $2,420,000.
In 1752 a fire in Moscow swept away 18,000 houses, involving an
immense loss.
In 1758 Christiana suffered a loss of $1,250,000, by conflagration.
In 1760 the Portsmouth (Eng.) dock-yards were burned, with a loss of
$2,000,000.